Koi Gardens-Jerome: Did you get your plants?

senko(6b ePA)June 8, 2009

I ordered in February and have not get my plants or an explanation regarding my order, and no answers to my messages. Did you get your plants? Are you happy with them? I want to find out how many of us ordered from him and have not recieved their order in full. So, I am number 1.

I called Jerome; he said that he oversold the stock and now he is waiting for more, but not sure if he will get them and when. So, I asked for refund. I am tired of dealing with this. We do gardenning to have fun and relieve stress.

I got a second part of my order today. I can not say that I am happy with it. The quality of the plants are OK (although the plants look very stressed). The most desirable varieties are missing. I placed this order entirely because of 'Betty Corning' and 'Rebecca'. None of them are included. I am glad I purchased 'Rebecca' from Bluestone Perennials' recent sale.
Geraniums are supposed to come from SD. I wonder, when? In the middle of July when we will have 100F here?
Very negative experience this time.

I found his # on Garden Watch Dog: 612.251.3998. I called but it sounds like a personal line not a business, but left a message anyway. I'll see if he calls back. He still hasn't replied to my email that I sent a couple weeks ago, so it led me into calling him. After reading here that people were getting their packages made feel better, but my days are getting numbered with Paypal & getting nervous. Check out the Garden Watchdog (won't let me link it here) & see all the negative responses he's been getting. People are mad! I'm going to check into Paypal now to see what they need from me in order to get a refund. Good Luck all.

First question, did you pay for all of the Clematis you ordered in ONE payment? You did receive SOME right?

IF so, you must file a Significantly Not As Described dispute NOT Item Not Received because you received a partial shipment, BUT I'm not sure that PayPal allows SNAD disputes when you didn't buy on eBay.

The Ebay wording has me really confused. They make it seem like it is only Ebay sellers this dispute can go thru.

My 1st step is for Paypal to get us to communicate to get things worked out. If not, I have to file an official claim w/i 20 days. At that point they say they are going to question me. Almost feels like I'm the one that did something wrong.

Not sure if I can actually file my dispute now, or do I have to wait the full 45 days.

If he is sneaky he could send an order and use the tracking on it to prove delivery. You would need to refuse it if it arrives or go to your credit card for resolution then. If he was smart, he would just refund you so that you don't add to his growing pile of angry customers.

OK, I have got to be ready for this if he does send the package. If I refuse it, will I still get my refund? What happens if they just leave it on my doorstep w/o having to sign? Just write on the box, Return To Sender? Will this make me look bad in Paypal's eyes? I see that he will either ship USPS or FedEx.

It isn't like I don't want them if he does ship them to try to make things right, but I'm afraid I'll get myself into a situation 'Significantly Not As Described' & then I will really be screwed. Reading other peoples post, it seems like he is substituting and/or sending partial orders. I'm afraid to open the box & have that be the case. I made it very clear to him no subs & if he couldn't complete my entire order to contact me 1st. Not sure at this point how much he would adhere to that.

I am still waiting for my refund that he promised. He doesn't answer my (NUMEROUS) emails or messages on his web site. And why is he still selling clematis on his web site? He commended me on my patience....well now I am fresh out! I ordered several times using paypal each time to pay. I don't know if they can help me get my money back. It is too hot to ship here in Texas even if by some miracle he would send my order. I just want my refund.

When I talked to him, he sounded very stressed and he prefered to refund rather than trying to fulfill the order. But I have not gotten my refund yet. So, I am waiting, and perhaps I will fill out the PayPal claim also. I'll post my results.

I left a message for him(on his web site chat) that he owes us some kind of statement. Just tell us something as to what he plans to do. After all, we paid our money in good faith and did nothing to deserve this silent treatment.

Rosethyme, if he isn't responding to emails & phone calls for whatever reason, I hardly doubt he is going to take the time to come & explain it to us. The pessimist in me.

I have a gut feeling that the problems are coming from
either a supplier that promised more than they could fulfill or he is just that disorganized & can't preplan his orders accordingly. No excuse, bad business practice especially when you add the icing on the cake by not communicating with your customers! I can very much tolerate & support a business going thru the learning curves, but no communication is unacceptable. It proves to me that he carries the lowest standards of intregrity & extreme volumes of cowardness. Someone that should never be in business for themselves.

I sort of agree with Lalalandwi... If you do not have time to reply to your customers, you should at least set an automatic reply to emails. It does not take too much time. The web site should also be updated.

I got the geraniums from him yesterday. They came from SD. Horrble condition! Some of them have rotten roots that are exposed, not in the ground. Some of them are completely wilted. If I will not get my payment for this trash back, I will leave a negative feedback finally. I will also try to open a dispute with my credit card company.

With all these foreclosures going on in the country, I wonder if he is in some kind of finantial trouble. He took a short term job during May which started all these delays. I don't know if we will ever resolve this issue for everyones satisfaction. I am loosing hope. Those who got some plants are at least got something. I got nothing. I will shop locally.

I just went to Jerome's web site hoping to chat with him. He removed the chat option :(

Senko, I am sorry for you... I did not receive my large Lily order this spring. I got only about 50% of my money back from my credit card company. People just disappered... Their phone is not working; they do not reply to emails...

just received email from Jerome's niece about my back order plants. It seems they finally got some missing ones but some are either for substitutes or refund.
Hoping everyone who is waiting will get response soon.

I am Adri, Jerome's Niece, and I am helping him with the shipping.
Thank you for your patience with us during this hectic time!
Our back orders have finally come in!!
Your Clematis will be on their way with in the next few weeks.
We greatly appreciate all your patience with us and greatly thank you for dealing with us!

The big news: I got my plants. It was shipped the day I disputed on PayPal. Anyway, the plants came, no missing and no substitudes. They all look in good shape; all green and many leaves, decent amount of growth. I hope, you all get your orders soon if you still haven't yet.

Janet...I agree..I think his enthusiasm and overselling of clematis in his great $6 dollar clematis sale and then not being able to replenish his stock was the true culprit in this debacle..we desperately need good clematis vendors in the USA and I hope he has learned a valuable lesson and will be better prepared next time and to remember that keeping up with his correspondence with his clients is essential in quelling dissent and conjecture...
He was just overwhelmed and under stocked..I contacted him via phone and requested that he contact me as I can refer him to a GREAT wholesaler but he hasn't returned my phone call...Jeanne

I'm thinking that an inventory database could be built into the web site itself (not a trivial thing in most cases), but just upgrading the local computer wouldn't prevent overselling when slammed with orders. I'm the web master for another garden related site that is currently having a "going out of business" sale, and it got slammed with 800 orders in a couple of days and all those orders had to be downloaded before the garden center could see what inventory they had (if any) left over. They too, underestimated the volume of orders they were going to get.
It has made me far more empathetic than I used to be in these situations.

Heheh. Maybe I should. :-) But not until the sale I mentioned is over.
If Jerome only takes web orders (and I think that's all he does), online inventory tracking would work.
For the site I maintain, they also take phone orders and from what I hear, the phone never stops ringing.

Nor'East Miniature Roses is quitting the retail business. Purchasing through the web site is currently disabled until they do an inventory check and give me a list of what is in stock. Which should be soon.
How's the weather in Michigan? I'll be there in a couple of weeks.

cnetter, you should offer! I've seen websites out there that say they are out in the gardens & can very rarely answer the phone. They prefer emails for questions & ordering online. I personally don't take any offense to that & can appreciate how hard of a business this is. I can't imagine how little he is making off of $6 clems & for him to hire a whole staff would probably put him under. I used to do inventory for a manufacturer & worked on a software program that deducted inventory as I ordered from the factory. Down to a science if you factor in damaged goods as a percentage. I was w/i literally 10 piece goods.

Maybe at this point he is so put off with all of this chaos & feels like he has tainted his reputation that he will bail out. If I had that bad taste in my mouth I would see what I could do differently, but with that reputation on GWD would make me want to fold.

Weather is beautiful in Michigan, now that it has stopped raining. I've lived all over the country and with the exception of the economy (and Downtown Detroit) this is truly the best place (at least for me).

Nor'East Roses is in Colorado? Nor'East of what? lol...

Just minitures or do they have regular roses too? I've got a spot picked out for Dainty Bess....

Nor'East Roses used to be in Rowley, Massachusetts for decades, but now they're in California. The web site is still hosted in Mass. I've been doing the site since 1995. It doesn't matter to me where it is. :-)

Mostly miniature roses, but there's some others. Not many Hybrid Teas. No clematis :-(

I hope Jerome doesn't get so discouraged that he quits. Too many retail nurseries are disappearing.

I ordered 3 clematis in 2008 to be held until spring of 2009. He did not wait and shipped them immediately in error. I did all of the right things hoping they would be ok for spring planting. They all died, he then replaced the order and yet 1 more died. I have been in correspondence with him since June, once he even said that he was going to ship it out that week-end and I offered to pay for the shipping. That was over a month ago, I have been sending emails ever since and still no replacement. I give up. Never again at any price.

Still waiting on a refund as of his niece's correspondance and mine back on JUNE 19.

I'll never order from him again. My plants were spindly and nothing like the little gems that are pictured on the website and I expressed the concern to his niece who said she'd let her uncle know...yeah right.

Hi all,
I have received an email from Jerome, and he is going to make things straight. I noticed latter on that I hadn't heard from him, but couldn't recall, where did I get his name in the first place?!

I will be receiving 13 extra clematis as some of the ones I ordered are no longer available. I understand new businesses and how one can overbook, as DH and I have one for 18 years. We are in the service businesses and deal with many companies and restaurants. But we started in a 1970 toyota pick up that my father had, and our equipment was put in the open back.

I'm expecting my new deadline towards the end of September. He was suggesting October, but that is when it gets rainy and cold here in Idaho.

That's wonderful news for you. if only he'd extend the same courtesy to the rest of us. I had written (email) to him immediately upon receipt of my shipment expressing my displeasure in the plants I received (they looked nothing like the plants pictured on the site). I was also missing one that was to be mailed later. When I received the email that that one couldn't be shipped, I was offered a refund or substitution. that was June 19. Nothing in the way of a refund as I requested, email or anything else.